As of 6/1/06, postings at
GuvWurld are being suspended. I will be continuing my advocacy journalism at a new
blog,We Do Not Consent.
WDNC is also the name of my book, shown below. Click the picture to download a free .pdf version.

MEMES

What would be better?

Be the media you want to see.

Keep your mind open...the future's coming.

Identify the least you can do, and commit to doing at least that much.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

The Volunteer Strike

This is an excellent idea that I found tonight at OpEdNews.com. The Volunteer Strike, by its nature, epitomizes using election reform as a tactic toward peaceful revolution. It is a tangible way to withdraw our complicity and Consent.

February 5, 2006

The Volunteer Strike: Taking the Iniative [sic] back from our political 'leaders'

Power to the People!

By Mary Kiraly

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER STRIKE

As volunteers, we possess a valuable commodity- our time and our effort. Because this is a political year, our combined contributions provide us with powerful leverage to effect change. Our work is crucial to the success of political candidates and political parties. We man phone banks; raise funds; organize, register, and turn out voters; and serve on election day as judges, poll workers, election observers, and precinct officials. We have more power to change the system RIGHT NOW than we have ever imagined.

Why Strike?

We are gearing up for another very important election. As Volunteers, we are being asked to work harder and donate more than we have in the past. We are being told that we need to be better organized, to have a clearer message, and to reach out to more citizens.

But no one is telling us what will happen if this November we witness a repeat of the voting irregularities that have occurred in the past two elections. We know that we have a voting system that is in crisis. Our political leaders are refusing to address this issue. Our national elected officials are failing to act.

All across the United States, activists, just like us, are challenging their state's election system. We have a responsibility to the voters that we organize, register, and encourage to vote. When voters go to the polls, they have a right to expect that they will have their ballots recorded and counted as they intended.

We have done our job well. More voters have participated in the political process, and donated to candidates, than at any time in our history. Now it is time to force our political leaders and elected officials to do their job!

We will demand that we have a secure, reliable, accessible voting system in this country. Such a system is not a legislative nicety. It is the Fundamental institution of our Democracy.

So we are going to change the debate. We are no longer willing to go to our elected officials and Party leaders, "cap in hand," pleading with them to speak out, and to reform our election system. It is their responsibility, inherent in elected office, to provide American citizens with a secure, accurate, accessible system of voting.

Until such time as we are confident that the election system, in the United States, will accurately (1) record, (2) count, and (3) preserve the ballots of American citizens, we will be withholding our valuable volunteer efforts to organize, recruit, and turnout voters.

____________________________________________________Please sign and copy this petition. Send copies to: your county party Central Committee, the state chair of your Party, state legislators, your members of Congress, and to Howard Dean (DNC Chair) and Ken Mehlman (RNC Chair). Send faxes when possible. Fax numbers for elected officials can be found by going to www.congress.org, which will also provide links to state officials. Share this petition with other volunteers and friends.

You may wish to add the following phrase: If you are unaware of the threats to our voting systems, I would be happy to provide a briefing and sources for your consideration.

National Volunteer Strike and Petition

I am participating in a national campaign by volunteer activists. American citizens have a right to expect that their elected officials and leaders will provide them with a secure voting system.A secure, accurate, accessible voting system is not just a legislative priority.

IT IS THE CENTRAL INSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM.__________________________________________________As a member of __________________________________, it is essential that I have confidence that the work I do- to organize, register, and turn out voters- will be productive. For these efforts to be productive, we must have a secure voting system. It is, therefore, essential that we have confidence (1) that our voting machines are recording and counting votes accurately, and producing an audit-able paper trail; and (2) that the tabulators, into which the accumulated voting data is fed, are certified as secured against the possibility of tampering, or manipulation of the voting outcome. Until such time as I have been assured that these criteria are being meet, it is inappropriate for me to dedicate my time and my effort to recruiting and turning out voters.Signed___________________________________________ Date______________Address:_________________________________________

In the past, I have contributed my volunteer efforts in the following ways:

Mary Kiraly is a painter who, in addition to a degree in art and graduate work in studio art, has an M.A. in International Relations (in Strategic Studies). She has devoted much of her time and effort, over the past 3 years, to attemting [sic] to call attention to the suppression of the vote in this country. She can be reached at mhowekiraly@yahoo.com

I think this sends a good message to "activists" (the real public servants) about prioritization of time and energy. The suggestion is to withdraw complicity from a broken system, to shatter the assumption of the Consent of the Governed. Rather than working to win in a bogus election, work to make sure the elections aren't bogus.

This pledge is a practical way to plant that seed even without taking on the more direct language typically used here at GuvWurld. Here are a few small tweaks I propose, and of course people can ultimately choose to write whatever they want in order to get the point across.

Both places mentioning confidence would be strengthened by saying it is essential that there is a basis for confidence.

In the first numbered item, the audit-able paper trail would be more definitive as audit-able paper ballot of record.

I'm having a little trouble with the second numbered item, mainly because I don't want to perpetuate the need for tabulators. However, putting that aside because I want to give a big, "YES, AND..." to this overall idea, this item would be stronger if it said "tabulators are publicly transparent and certified..."

"I have been assured" needs to be a higher standard: "Until such time as it is proven these criteria are being met..." Else I assure you, we could be lied to.

I will definitely have some printouts of this on Saturday at the community forum on non-violent revolution. This really fits perfectly with one of the key themes of the event, getting people to consider how to use their volunteer energies more effectively. For anyone who decided to free up some volunteer time while reading this, I will have plenty of other projects you might consider plugging into at the forum. Learn more.